Method of desiccating fluid substances.



` A. G. KALB. METHD 0F DESIGGATING FLUID SUBSTANGES.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 4, 1909.

Patented May 10, 1910.

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Patented May m, 1910 2SHBBTSSHET 21 A. G. KALB.

METHOD OF DBSICGATING FLUID SUBSTANCES.

APPLICATION TILED FEB.4,1909.

Wi Minoes esteso.

To all whom it may concern:

lle it known that I, ALBERT Gr.` Kann, a citizen of the United States of Airfiericmand resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook andiState of Illinois, have invented certain new and .useful Improvements in' Methods otl Desiccating Fluid Substances, of which the following is a specification. y,

This invention relates to iiiiproveinents a method oi desiccating iiuid substances and vmore particularly to that class of inventions wherein the substances to be desiccated are introduced in a iinely divided or atoinized condition into a current or body of air, pref` erahly warmed or dried, sothat each particle ot material will be exposed to the dryingaction ot' the air and will he almost immediately desiccated and reduced to a particle of solid material.

In the preferred forni ofapparatus for carrying out iny'inetliod the material to'lie desiccated is contained in a. suitable' tank and from there it -spuinped into a pressure tank' from vwhence it is atomizedinto" a `des- :maintained current of dry, wann air. 39.

locating chamber into which air is constantly introduced in lar `e volume, thc'des iccatcd particles 'of mill; thus. being` suhjected to the drying action df the constantly A blowerior other exhausting device exhausts the desiccated particles, together with the air which has taken up the moisture from such .i articles, from the'desiccating chainloerv `and orces them into va dust collector," preferably, yet not necessarily, of a centrifugal type. ost of the dried or desiccated particles are separated'fromthe air in this dust collector and such separated particles are discharged .hy any desired means.` `The air from the dust collector, together with such particles .v as have not been separated therefrom, then i `pass into afurtlier collector, preferably. of

rotary type, in whicha still finer separation `is made, and then tlieaii: and the sinall pei'- centage ol. particles contained thereby is exhausted from this rotarycollecxir and dis- .eharged intothe tank in which the sub stances to be desiccated wereoriginally contained. In this tank the air and its sinall percentage of valuable particlesis sulojeoted .to a spray of, the `material heingdesicca-ted and this spray gathersl-as` n-iuch of theremanning particles as possihlefronnthe air my the collector.

, sprayinor ALBERT e. KALB, on CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .essicnon `To `NATURALnaar rnonUc'rs` y COMPANY, ory AUGUSTA, MAINE, A oortronafrion oriviarnn.

Mn'riion or ronsiccn'rmc `FLUID suns'rancns.

Specification of Letters Ilatent i i 4P fafleinrljedl 19510., Application inea February 4,'1909. sei-iai no. 476,050;

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Generally speaking inyinvention consists of the method j ustdescribed and as hereinafter claimed. 'In the drawings accompanying and forrning parthereof, and which itwill be understood' `represent the preferable, though not necessary, form of my invention, Figure l is a vier/,niostly in side elevation, showing thejeoinplete apparatus for carrying out process. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of Fig; 3` is a side elevation, partly in section of the rotary collector.

Referring vnow to thedetails `of thedrawings by-nunierals: 1 designates a tank which is preferably provided with l a water or steam jacket 2 for heating the material contained Within the aforesaid tank. is provided with a supply pipe' l by which material may loe` placed in thetank and also with an `exit pipe 5 by which the inaterial'is" delivered to the desiccating chamber. An overlionY 6 and a drain 7 are also provided and if steam 1s supplied and used as a heating medium a steani connection 8 1s also eni- 'ilo ed. Within this tank is also4 irov-ided a spraying device and on the exterior of the tank a pump is employed to operate this hereinailter described in detail.

The pipe which has heen 'mentioned as connecting with the tank l, `connects said tank 'with a punip 10which forces the fluid( This tank i device, but said features will loev n'iaterial into a liquid pressure tank 12. and

theobjeet of this tank is to keep the liquidl at ausuitable pressure, say 2004 pounds, so as to deliver the saine through pipes 13 to aseries of atornizeijs 14 placed within a desiccating cl'ianiher 1G. Within this chamber is arranged a heating coil 18 and this coil is contained within a iacket` 19 to which air is ,lied from the exterior through an inlet 2() and the air befr-ire..'altering the desiccatingchamber ltinust surround the coils` of the heaterl` and pass out ci the openings 210i' the acket lf) into the desiccating cha1n ber 16.

The desiccatinoA chanlocrl isprovided `with an outlet 21; 'swhich` connects with a blower-,2G so that the air is exhausted bythis flolowervfroin the.desiccatingycharnher i6 and ber is the air inlet 20.`which feeds the air to the heater 18, it follows that the air which is exhausted from said heater must be rst preheated or dried by the heater 18. It is desirable to maintain the temperature of the air at about 120O F. and in order.to maintain this temperature I employ a damper 28 which is connected by the crank 29 and rods 30 to a thermostat 31 controlled by an expansion tube 32 entering the upper portion of the desiccating chamber. Nothing new is claimed in the details of this thermostatic damper and any of the usual thermostatic dampers may be employed.

The action of the apparatus so far described is to introduce the substance to be desiccated in a iinely divided or atomized condition to a `constantly supplied current of dry air introduced into the desiccating chamber-and exhausted therefrom by means of the aforesaid blower 26, the blower thus maintaining a constant supply of dry air in great volume in the desiccating chamber and as finely divided or .atomized particles are subjected to this constantly supplied large volume of air, said atomized particles are so exposed'to the drying action of the airA that .they are almost immediately desiccated and reduced to particles of solid ma teria'l; the liquid of the material being absorbed by the large volume of constantly supplied dry air and the Whole being drawn from the desiccating chamber, as stated, by the exhauster 26. From the exhauster 26 the moisture laden air, together withthe finely divided and dried or desiccated particles of solid material, are now forced into the iirst dust collector. This dust collector, though shown in rectangularl shape in my drawings, is so constructed as to form eddies as will be explained and comprises a casing- 30 having anA inlet 31` connected with the exhauster 26 and an exit 32 which leads to a second collectorto be hereinafter described. The casing 30a is provided with a series of .vertical partitions 33 and 34 which extend from the ltop to the bottom of the collector; the said bottom being formed into the shape of atrough 35 in which is located a conveyer 36, operated from the pulley 37, arl

; ranged 'to discharge the desiccated particles`\ out through the discharge spout 38. The vertical partitions 33, las willRnotic-ed do not extend clear across thel dust collector but leave a'passage across the dust collector,

y between said partitions, from the inlet 31 tojthe exit 32. The action of this dust collector is to receive thedust laden air Jfrom the exhauster 26'and as said dust laden air is forced throughthe dust collector from the inlet 31a to the exit 32 the air strikes against the Verticalpartitions '33 and4 34 and forms whirllng ed iesbetween said partitions, thus giving the solid particles a chance to settle and fall down ito the trough 35 to be car-v ried away by the conveyer The air continues its motion and is disniiarged out of the exit 32. It willbe observed that as the air laden with the desiccated material is forced through thc collector' it strikes the verticaly partitions and is thereby whirled Acollector as shown in Fig. 1, and this collector may be, generally speaking, of any desired form except as will be particularly described. As shown in my dra-wings l have ada ted the dust collector such as shown in U. Patent No. 711,760 and the details of this collector will need no further description other -.\than to point out the features necessary for the operation of my method and apparatus. As shown in my drawings this collector comprises a series of radially disposed dust collecting tubes 42 which. are arranged u'pon a rotary carrier 44 and given a step by step movement by means of the bell crank lever 45 and its hooked pawl 46 coacting with the Slatsj47 on the carrier; the bell crank 45 being operated from the pulley 48 by means of the rod 49 all as shown in the aforesaid patent. And as in said patent' all of the said radially disposed collecting tubes 42, except the one which happens to be at the bottom, are connected with the main air trunk 43 to which the air is delivered by the inlet 41. As each Adust collectino' tube 42 reaches the bottom, its open end is located over the dust collecting trough 38, in which is located a conveyor 38a to convey away the collected particles, and the said tube is given a vibratory action by means of the knocker arms 50 contacting with the bars 51 to give them a shaking action against the action of the springs 52. All the parts hereinbeforel described are the same asin said Patent No. 711,760, and, there shown, as the dust enters the inlet 41 it passes around into the mainnir trunk 43 and into the radially disposed collecting tubes 42. As theseftubes rotate, and as each set of tubes reaches a'aplace where it is vertically disposed over the trough 38 the tub'es are given a rapid shaking action and any material collected therein 1scaused to settle bygravity into the trough 38 and conveyed away by the conveyer' 3555. ln order to connect this rotary ,dust collector with the rest of my apparatus I entirely close the machine at the 'rear end and/the front end is similarly closed by a closure` 53 which however is formed with an outlet 54 which connects withl an air trunk 61.

The action of the rotary dust collector is controlled by means. of a blower 60 shown in Fig. l, this blower exhaustingthe air from the rotary collector through the aforesaid trunk 61 and delivering the air through a trunk 62 to a spraying chamber compris* ing two telescopic members 64 and 65, although the chamber need not be made telescopically unless desired., This spraying chamber has-the lower member 65 which is i provided with a` perfrated bottoinlwhich enters the tankl hcreinbefore described and in the practical operatioiiof this spraying chamber the Alower perforatedendof the telescopic member (i is immersed in the i fluid substance to be desiccated so that the air lwhich is forced from the blower 6() into the spraying chamber needs to pass .through the liquid to be desiecated. and thus hast-o pass through the perforations (S6 and then a upithrough the `liquid in the tank 1 tothe atmosphere, the said tank 1 being open atl the top as illustrated. The aforesaid spraying chamber contains a series of spraying or atoniizing devices 70 and these are con nected by a pipe 71 with a pump 7 .he-infrom the blower GO yand the "finely divided `particles thus tendto collect any of the dried particles there may still be remaining in' the air which is forced into the spraying chamber. The result of this process is fthat by the time the air froinfthe desiccatlet of which is connected by a pipe 73 to the bottom of the tank l.; in ,operation the pump 72 forces the liquid` from the tank 1 through the pipe T1 to the spraying or atomizing dev-ice where the. sprayed or atomized particles of material to be desiccated are sprayed or :itemized into the incoming an' ing chamber 1G `is forced through the two dust collectors and `finally subjected .to the 'spraying action in the `spraying chamber `64e and then forced to pass out through the be maintained at a uniform consistency, and,

preventing the, `creation of foam. p

The operation of my invention is as follows: 'lnliiposing milk to be the vsubstance to be desiccated, the milk is supplied tlnougli `the supply pipe 4 to the tank 1 and is forced by the pump'i() into the pressure tank 12 where it is maintained at a pressure of say 200 pounds and then the milk passes through the feed pipes 13 to the series of atomizers 14 located in the desiecating chamber 16. y A

`constant current of warm, dry air is maintained in this chamber 16 owing to 'the action of the blower 26 which draws the air in said chamber through the air inlet `20 "the two dust collectors, is subjected to this l1 where it is dried and slightly warmed, the therinostatic damper .regulating the air so that it is maintained at a uniform tempera.- ture of about 120. Thus the milk is atom ized in the desiccating chamber 1G and subjected to the drying action of the constantly supplied warm dr i air, in suicient volume to take up the moisture from the milkparticles thus immediately desiccating and reducing said `milk to particles of solid material. The air carrying the moisture andthe solid particles is then drawn bythe blower 26 and forced into the first dust collector -where it attempts to find an outlet but Vinso doing passes through the extreme length of said dust collector'and strikes against the vertical partitions 33 and 34 and iswhirled into eddies so that the tine particles of milk are separated from the air and" are per initted to fall into the trough 35 where they 85 are removed by theconveyer. `Theuair which escapes from thedust collectoriwith any of its remaining particles is now drawn into the rotary dustV collector by nieansof the exliaustei oi blower G0.y In" going `through this rotary collector, the dustladen-L" air passesinto the main 'air chamber 48iand from thence into all of the radially disposed A dust collecting tubes 42 and as these tubes, one at a time as they ai'egivena step by step movement, reach the place where they are immediately over the trough 43, they are agitated so as to cause anyl particles of milk i i .5 `to settle into the trough and be carried away by the conveyer 38a. The air is" then 100 sucked `through these radially disposed "citi,- f lecting tubes and out through the trunktil into thelblower GO from which it isfforc'kll through the trunk G2 into the spray. chamber where it is subjected to the acticnwi of a fine spray of milkwhich is forced byyij. `the pump 72 tl'iroughthe spraying devices 70. Thus the air, with the few milk par ticles remaining in it, after passing through lf milk spray and then is` caused to pass through the perfoi'ations in the bottoni of the spraying chamber up through the milk in` the tank 1 and .Lto the atmosphere where it escapes.

Frointhe foregoing and accompanying drawings,` it will be seen 4that ll have `invented a method which desiccates fluid sub stances contiiniously andj discharges the air afterl practically all of the desiccated par- ).204

ticles are collected therefrom.

`The apparatus herein shown and described is not claimed herein but forms the subject matter of a` ai'ate application,

SerialNuiiiber 446,170, led July 30, 1908. Y

What I clainias new is: 1. 'lheinethod `of desiccatng fluid sub-` stances which consists ian spraying the fluid toa currentof air and maintaining the'airf in motion by constantly `renewing the same, 131" stances which consists in forming and maintaining an air current by constantly reneiy-A ing the air, introducing fluid material 1n atomiz'ed condition to said current of air,

x separating the bulk of the' desiccated material from the air by a method of dry colleetion, and collecting the residue by introducing a liquid spray to the air and forcing the air through the fiuid being treated, substantially as described.

- 3. The method of desiccating fluid sub.-

' stances which. consists in introducing fluid A material in atomized condition to a current of air, maintaining said air current by con- 'stantly renewing the same, and separating 'the bulk of the desiccated material from the air by a method of dry collection, collecting lthe residue of the -desiccated material by introducing a'liquid'spray to the air, and forcthev alr throufh the liquid being treated,

Sil

stantially as escribed.

f4. The method ,of desiccating fluid substances which consists in forcing fluid material from ayessel dr ltank 1n atonnzed condi- ".jtion to a current. chair, maintaining the air in motion bycon'stai tly renewing the saine,

'separating part of the desiccated material from'the air, forcing said current of air with :remaining material in suspension through 'l the vbulli 4of the fluid `in said vessel or vtank, and spraying the airby the fluid being' treated in its passa e from the' atomizing chamber to the vesse or tank containing the b li Vot the tluid, substantially as described.

, '.*"The method of desiccating fluid subconsistsin forcing fluid material from a Vessel or ta nk in atolnized condi- `tion to a current of air, maintaining the air in motion by contantly renewing the saine, separating part of the desiccatcd material from the air, forcing said current of air with.

bulk of desir-,cated material from the air by a method of dry collection consisting in forining eddies and ermitting the desiccated material to settle y gravity, subjecting the air and the residue ot the material to a liquid spray, substantially as described.

7,'The method of desiccating fluid substances which consists in introducing fluid material in atoinized condition to a current of air, maintaining said air current by constantly renewing the same, separating the bulk of desiccated material from the air by a method of dry collection consisting in forming eddies and permitting the desiccated material to settle by gravity, subjecting the air and the residue of the desiccated material to ali uid spray and forcing the air through the uid being treated, substantially as described.

Signed by me at Chicago Illinois this 25th day of January 1909.

XLBERT G. KALB.

Witnesses:

GEO. F. Yaris, y W. F. HAYDEN. 

